[RFE] Gnome/KDE --> Checkfs/Format --> Encrypt --> External HD USB stick etc..

["Jóhann B. Guðmundsson"]

What's the thought on offering format and do file systems check and even 
encrypt and
backup ( DD ) on portable HD, USB sticks etc inn the desktop environment?

Since I don't use KDE i have no idea what the status for this is in it but
I know that it's lacking in  ( Nautilus ? )Gnome.

Scenario

Users plugs in his USB stick, double clicks *computer*
right clicks the USB stick and chooses "format" or right clicks it where 
it pops
up and chooses "format" choose  ext3 or another filesystem  clicks ok and
viola...

Scenario in reality..

User first have to have an root access to the box he's on

Then do from cli... ( given that the usb is /dev/sdb )
fdisk /dev/sdb --> d --> n --> p --> 1 <enter><enter> --> t --> 83 --> w
mkfs.ext3 -b 4096 /dev/sdb1

And if he wants to use ext2/3 (not upcoming 4)  on his usb or external 
hd he has to first
create fat partition and copy to it either http://www.fs-driver.org/ 
driver ( freeware )
or http://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2fsd/ driver (GPL) for users to 
install later on windows
to support ext filesystem.

Maybe samba team members could step in here ( or share the infinite 
wisdom )
and do a little/more work the other way around
( ext to Windows instead of ntfs to Linux :) ) that could be placed on a 
fat or ntfs partition
and do the transaction between the Linux and Windows without the need of 
anything
being installed on Windows, which then could be added to the formating 
like an option
format as ext with support for windows and their little magic would be 
set up on the fat/ntfs partition....

**** Possible bug alert ****

Is there really any need for the user to have root access to the 
computer he's or
to contact his system administrator ( in case he has one to begin with )
to format the floppy he wants to save his OO document on ????
And when the user has not put his floppy disk properly in the floppy drive
is faced with "Unable to mount media <clicks> detail  -->
and gets mount: /dev/fd0 is not a valid block device
Instead of userfriendly msg like the cd/dvd rom outputs "There's 
probably no media in drive"
which by the way is true in this case...

Do the same step formating external hd connected to the computer via usb 
and you need
to manually insert a line into fstab ( or via s-c-lvm ) to mount it or 
do mount it manually.
It does not get *auto* detected in Gnome like the usb key in case you 
unplug/plug it or
plug it from FC8 to FC Rawhide...

Best regards.
              Johann B.


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